The use of surgical headlights to provide a spotlight beam of intense light coincident with the wearer's line of sight, independent from overhead and/or ambient lighting, is well established in the art. Surgical headlight systems typically include a headlight assembly mounted to a surgical headgear at the wearer's forehead at a location approximately between the wearer's eyes. A typical headlight assembly comprises an assembly of optic elements and a light source (xenon or halogen) and can receive an emitting end of a fiber optic cable and then focus and direct the light from the cable into a beam aimed forward of the wearer. Alternatively, the headlight assembly may comprise an LED (light emitting diode) mounted in its housing and used as the light source. The LED light source is connected by a cable to a power supply.
Various models of commercially-available surgical headgear comprise a headlight assembly which comprises an aperture adjusting component (e.g., an aperture adjusting dial) which is manipulated by the wearer to adjust the aperture of the light beam. Unfortunately, these aperture adjusting components cannot be fully utilized for their intended purpose due to lack of sterility and associated risk factors. Specifically, the headgear itself, including the headlight assembly and aperture adjusting component, is not sterile. As such, the surgeon typically adjusts the aperture adjusting component to a particular setting prior to entering the sterile field and then is unable to personally manipulate the non-sterile component to re-adjust the aperture after entering the sterile field because he or she would compromise the sterile field. So in order for the aperture to be adjusted, a non-sterile assistant reaches into the sterile field to adjust the component; or alternatively, the surgeon may instinctively attempt to adjust the component using some other sterile tool (e.g., forceps) not designed to adjust the component, and then discard the tool. Clearly, such procedures are not efficient, slow down the operation, and introduce an unnecessary sterility risk factor. This limitation discourages the surgeon from adjusting the aperture in situations where he or she might otherwise have done so but for the inconvenience and risk.
There thus clearly exists a need in all operating room settings to provide a more efficient and safe procedure that would allow the surgeon to personally adjust the aperture adjusting component on his or her surgical headlight without the assistance of another and without compromising the sterile field.